Weekend Edition: Bookshop Mountain

The past week has smiled down upon me, giving me opportunities to continue reading The Third Reich by Roberto Bolano. A strange, twisted novel that has perplexed me--I still have no idea what will happen.

Susanna Moore's A Life of Objects is constantly within my grasp as well, and it is an intriguing historical novel. Moore is a new writer for me: She was profiled on the cover of The Writer magazine this month. Her tale of an Irish girl--an enterprising, self-taught lace-maker who is determined not to rot away in her remote village--ventures to Germany to live with a (formerly) high-society Jewish couple. What is so interesting about this story is that the lace maker understands nothing of the politics involved, yet it is the late 1930s. Things are happening to her employers, and she tries desperately to interpret them, though she has no clues, really. This makes for an intensely enjoyable read.

Caroline's Literature and War Readalong for February 28: The Flowers of War by Geling Yan.
I was head over heels delighted to discover that this title is available to me via the Nook for only $2.99, which is much less than everyone in Europe is paying. I feel guilty about it, I do! I can't explain it either, although it does seem from the movie tie-in book cover that SOMEONE is promoting the movie in the U.S., and hence, the cheap price for the e-book. Oh, publishing is so strange these days.

Nonfiction Read:
Keith Lowe's Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II.
I borrowed this from the library and realized immediately that given my current full-throttle exploration of Europe in the immediate post-war period, 1945-1948, that this is a key title in that understanding. I ordered it pronto, and am now delighting in reading it, my comments and notes in the margins all over every page.  A superb history of a neglected period in European history. And it's incredibly readable. Yes, loads of research, notes, a good-sized bibliography, but readable. Of course, I feel everyone needs to read this book, given the fact that it's my current academic focus. Got those blinders on!